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The 118-room, 70,000-square-foot Holiday Inn Express & Suites, which is replacing a former Regency Inn at 444 Broad St., could be ready by March 1, builder and project partner Mason McKnight said.

“You want to open up at least two or three weeks before Masters so you can get all the kinks out,” said McKnight, the president of ACC Construction Co.

Work started on the $8 million overhaul in early March. The six-floor hotel has been gutted, but the original steel structure remains intact.

A new roof and rooftop metal deck are in the works, and plumbing work has begun on the first floor, McKnight said. He estimates that window installation will take place in late August, with interior work occurring from that point onward.

“We’re about 35 percent through with the job,” McKnight said.

Developer and local businessman T.R. Reddy purchased the dilapidated hotel, built in 1965, for $588,500 at a 2009 auction after the building sat vacant for years. He had planned the renovations in 2010, but financing issues caused a delay.

Reddy said the project remains ahead of schedule.

“The rain has caused somewhat of a delay,” he said. “But in spite of that, they’ve made progress.”

The energy-efficient facility is designed to include an outdoor swimming pool, gym and meeting space. Between 20 and 25 employees will likely work at the hotel.

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Wow. Stop the presses, the CBD is dangerous because the area had two homicides(don't even think the probation office shooting will count) since 2011(2 homicides in almost 2 years). Two homeless men got into a fight, and one was killed.

The former and existing sheriff both released the low crime stats for th CBD, and private developers sometimes spend years targeting certain properties to buy. The private developers obviously believe the area is safe enough overall..

How can you spin the new Farmhaus Burgers, restaurant underway next doo to Farmhaus, Eros Bistro, Boars Head Public House, and Whiskey Bar Kitchen?

Riverman1, The crowd The Regency attracted were the type of people that LIVED in hotels not to say that everyone living in hotels are bad but usually you have more crime in these type of hotels and it was cheap so that hotel was part of the crime problem on lower broad like many older hotels do along Gordon Hwy. The hotel across from the new Holiday Inn still is a problem but hopefully someone will buy that one too out soon and either refurbish it or tear it down and start over as the new Holiday Inn is a huge benefit and turning point to bring nicer businesses and clientele to that section of downtown. The Holiday Inn will attract the type of people who frequent the upper Broad Artist Row section and the Marriott.

"I continue to say the reason why people attack my comments is simply due to their biased [sic] against Richmond County." -- CM/NG/WA

Not even remotely true. The reason why people attack your comments is because your comments ignore what everyone else actually sees and FEELS (i.e. *reality*) when it comes to many parts of your beloved county. I'll never argue about the good things that are confirmed or are already here, but continuing to pretend there aren't huge problems downtown and in other areas you champion are what people have a problem with.

I'm probably not alone in this, as LeConteSkier alluded to the problem of these hotels in his post...but if I'm ever in a new town or new area to me and I see any hotel that advertises "weekly rates" on their sign, it's an immediate indicator to me that I probably don't want to spend much time in the vicinity. Unless it's directly outside of a large factory/facility/site/base that has a large contractor population, it will typically bring with it many unsavory characters and criminal activity.

It's not a bad business choice to open this hotel back up. If you can keep it secure, it's got great access to the strip joints and that Master's crowd loves their showgirls. Or maybe it was just me (facepalm)

I recognize that any growth is better than no growth or, even worse, contraction.

This obviously isn't the equivalent of the W coming to downtown Augusta but it's better than a hotel closing up shop. Generally, if someone is willing to invest in an area, it's a good sign for that area.

...pointed out to me Augusta needs better hotels/motels for a city of its standing especially with Master's guest accustomed to staying in a Ritz Carlton and the like. I applaud the effort. Augusta needs higher quality hotel and motel rooms available for Masters guests as well as for other visitors to Augusta.

I guess the real question is why can't Augusta land something like the Ritz Carlton (Lake Oconee has one)?

...online and functional by Master's time or will it just be another snarky comment in Sports Illustrated or another publication?

Since the county has indirectly went into the hotel business with its partnership with the downtown Marriott and the Marriott Convention City (TEE Center), are other potential hotel and motel chains hesitant to improve Augusta's hotel and motel issue?

Having Master's guests pay a couple of hundred a night to stay in a no tell motel on Tobacco Road is really criminal.

Masters week could be their time to shine or their time to fall flat on their face. Barely a month under their belts before they're slammed with a week of (hopefully) full occupancy...that'll be one heckuva test. On that note, since they don't open til the first of March if they're lucky, it may be the only decent hotel in town where you stand a chance of finding any vacancy that week.